# symbol font.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [November 9, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298 "2003-11-09T22:38:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/1 "2003-11-09T22:38:17Z")

</div>

I searched the FAQs and didn’t see anything about using the symbol font. I’ve seen how to use it here somewhere before, but now I can’t find it. So: how do I use math symbols, and stuff like the cocktail glass and bicycle?

Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/2 "2003-11-09T22:49:51Z")

</div>

[The symbol font reference thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=90639)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/3 "2003-11-10T03:49:23Z")

</div>

And if you go to the thread linked by **Musicat** , you have to go all the way to the end to find out that &#91symbol&#93Does this work?&#91/symbol&#93 _now_ produces [symbol]Does this work?[/symbol], and [sym]Does this work?[/sym] (as indicated early in the thread) does, in fact, not work anymore.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/4 "2003-11-11T01:12:27Z")

</div>

{symbol}keystroke{/symbol}

Replace curly brackets with square. Replace ‘keystroke’ with an alphanumeric character that you can imput with a keystroke from your keyboard or with an ALT+0xxx code (hold down the ALT key and type in the number from your numberic keypad).

Sorry, **Freiheit** , no bycicles or champagne glasses. You must be thinking of wingdings and wingbats, not the symbol font.

```auto

symbol keystroke name
**[symbol]A[/symbol]** A Alpha
**[symbol]B[/symbol]** B Beta
**[symbol]G[/symbol]** G Gamma
**[symbol]D[/symbol]** D Delta
**[symbol]E[/symbol]** E Epsilon
**[symbol]Z[/symbol]** Z Zeta
**[symbol]H[/symbol]** H Eta
**[symbol]Q[/symbol]** Q Theta
**[symbol]I[/symbol]** I Iota
**[symbol]K[/symbol]** K Kappa
**[symbol]L[/symbol]** L Lambda
**[symbol]M[/symbol]** M Mu
**[symbol]N[/symbol]** N Nu
**[symbol]X[/symbol]** X Xi
**[symbol]O[/symbol]** O Omicron
**[symbol]P[/symbol]** P Pi
**[symbol]R[/symbol]** R Rho
**[symbol]S[/symbol]** S Sigma
**[symbol]T[/symbol]** T Tau
**[symbol]U[/symbol]** U Upsilon
**[symbol]F[/symbol]** F Phi
**[symbol]C[/symbol]** C Chi
**[symbol]Y[/symbol]** Y Psi
**[symbol]W[/symbol]** W Omega

symbol keystroke name
**[symbol]a[/symbol]** a alpha
**[symbol]b[/symbol]** b beta
**[symbol]g[/symbol]** g gamma
**[symbol]d[/symbol]** d delta
**[symbol]e[/symbol]** e epsilon
**[symbol]z[/symbol]** z zeta
**[symbol]h[/symbol]** h eta
**[symbol]q[/symbol]** q theta
**[symbol]i[/symbol]** i iota
**[symbol]k[/symbol]** k kappa
**[symbol]l[/symbol]** l lambda
**[symbol]m[/symbol]** m mu
**[symbol]n[/symbol]** n nu
**[symbol]x[/symbol]** x xi
**[symbol]o[/symbol]** o omicron
**[symbol]p[/symbol]** p pi
**[symbol]r[/symbol]** r rho
**[symbol]V[/symbol]** V terminal sigma
**[symbol]s[/symbol]** s sigma
**[symbol]t[/symbol]** t tau
**[symbol]u[/symbol]** u upsilon
**[symbol]f[/symbol]** f phi
**[symbol]c[/symbol]** c chi
**[symbol]y[/symbol]** y psi
**[symbol]w[/symbol]** w omega

symbol keystroke name
**[symbol]J[/symbol]** J theta symbol
**[symbol]j[/symbol]** j phi symbol
**[symbol]v[/symbol]** v pi symbol
**[symbol]"[/symbol]**" for all, for every
**[symbol]$[/symbol]** $ there exists
**[symbol]'[/symbol]**' such that
**[symbol]@[/symbol]** @ is congurent to, approximately equals
**[symbol]\[/symbol]** \ therefor
**[symbol]^[/symbol]** ^ is perpendicular to
**[symbol]`[/symbol]** ` radical extender
**[symbol]*[/symbol]** * asterisk operator
**[symbol]-[/symbol]** - minus

**[symbol]¡[/symbol]** alt+0161 Upsilon with hook
**[symbol]¢[/symbol]** alt+0162 prime, minutes, or feet
**[symbol]£[/symbol]** alt+0163 less than or equals to
**[symbol]¤[/symbol]** alt+0164 figure slash
**[symbol]¥[/symbol]** alt+0165 infinity
**[symbol]¦[/symbol]** alt+0166 florin
**[symbol]§[/symbol]** alt+0167 club
**[symbol]¨[/symbol]** alt+0168 diamond
**[symbol]©[/symbol]** alt+0169 heart
**[symbol]ª[/symbol]** alt+0170 spade
**[symbol]«[/symbol]** alt+0171 arrow left and right
**[symbol]¬[/symbol]** alt+0172 arrow left
**[symbol]®[/symbol]** alt+0174 arrow right
**[symbol]¯[/symbol]** alt+0175 arrow down
**[symbol]°[/symbol]** alt+0176 degree
**[symbol]±[/symbol]** alt+0177 plus or minus
**[symbol]²[/symbol]** alt+0178 double prime, seconds, or inches
**[symbol]³[/symbol]** alt+0179 greater than or equals to
**[symbol]´[/symbol]** alt+0180 multiply
**[symbol]µ[/symbol]** alt+0181 proportional to
**[symbol]¶[/symbol]** alt+0182 partial differentiation
**[symbol]•[/symbol]** alt+0183 bullet
**[symbol]¸[/symbol]** alt+0184 divide
**[symbol]¹[/symbol]** alt+0185 not equal to
**[symbol]º[/symbol]** alt+0186 equivalent to
**[symbol]»[/symbol]** alt+0187 approximately equal to
**[symbol]¼[/symbol]** alt+0188 ellipsis
**[symbol]½[/symbol]** alt+0189 vertical arrow extender
**[symbol]¾[/symbol]** alt+0190 horizontal arrow extender
**[symbol]¿[/symbol]** alt+0191 carriage return symbol
**[symbol]À[/symbol]** alt+0192 Hebrew aleph
**[symbol]Á[/symbol]** alt+0193 I-fraktur
**[symbol]Â[/symbol]** alt+0194 R-fraktur
**[symbol]Ã[/symbol]** alt+0195 Weierstrass (script P)
**[symbol]Ä[/symbol]** alt+0196 circle multiply
**[symbol]Å[/symbol]** alt+0197 circle plus
**[symbol]Æ[/symbol]** alt+0198 null set
**[symbol]Ç[/symbol]** alt+0199 intersection of
**[symbol]È[/symbol]** alt+0200 union of
**[symbol]É[/symbol]** alt+0201 proper subset of
**[symbol]Ê[/symbol]** alt+0202 reflex superset of
**[symbol]Ë[/symbol]** alt+0203 not a subset of
**[symbol]Ì[/symbol]** alt+0204 proper subset of
**[symbol]Í[/symbol]** alt+0205 reflex subset of
**[symbol]Î[/symbol]** alt+0206 element of
**[symbol]Ï[/symbol]** alt+0207 not an element of
**[symbol]Ð[/symbol]** alt+0208 angle
**[symbol]Ñ[/symbol]** alt+0209 nabla (gradient of)
**[symbol]Ò[/symbol]** alt+0210 registered serif
**[symbol]Ó[/symbol]** alt+0211 copyright serif
**[symbol]Ô[/symbol]** alt+0212 trademark serif
**[symbol]Õ[/symbol]** alt+0213 product of
**[symbol]Ö[/symbol]** alt+0214 radical (square root)
**[symbol]×[/symbol]** alt+0215 dot product
**[symbol]Ø[/symbol]** alt+0216 logical not
**[symbol]Ù[/symbol]** alt+0217 logical and
**[symbol]Ú[/symbol]** alt+0218 logical or
**[symbol]Û[/symbol]** alt+0219 double arrow left and right
**[symbol]Ü[/symbol]** alt+0220 double arrow left
**[symbol]Ý[/symbol]** alt+0221 double arrow up
**[symbol]Þ[/symbol]** alt+0222 double arrow right
**[symbol]ß[/symbol]** alt+0223 double arrow down
**[symbol]à[/symbol]** alt+0224 lozenge
**[symbol]á[/symbol]** alt+0225 left angle bracket
**[symbol]â[/symbol]** alt+0226 registered sans serif
**[symbol]ã[/symbol]** alt+0227 copyright sans serif
**[symbol]ä[/symbol]** alt+0228 tradmark sans serif
**[symbol]å[/symbol]** alt+0229 Summation of
**[symbol]æ[/symbol]** alt+0230 large left parenthesis top
**[symbol]ç[/symbol]** alt+0231 large left parenthesis middle
**[symbol]è[/symbol]** alt+0232 large left parenthesis bottom
**[symbol]é[/symbol]** alt+0233 large left bracket top
**[symbol]ê[/symbol]** alt+0234 large left bracket middle
**[symbol]ë[/symbol]** alt+0235 large left bracket bottom
**[symbol]ì[/symbol]** alt+0236 large left brace top
**[symbol]í[/symbol]** alt+0237 large left brace middle
**[symbol]î[/symbol]** alt+0238 large left brace bottom
**[symbol]ï[/symbol]** alt+0239 brace extender
**[symbol]ñ[/symbol]** alt+0241 right angle bracket
**[symbol]ò[/symbol]** alt+0242 integral
**[symbol]ó[/symbol]** alt+0243 large integral top
**[symbol]ô[/symbol]** alt+0244 large integral middle
**[symbol]õ[/symbol]** alt+0245 large integral bottom
**[symbol]ö[/symbol]** alt+0246 large right parenthesis top
**[symbol]÷[/symbol]** alt+0247 large right parenthesis middle
**[symbol]ø[/symbol]** alt+0248 large right parenthesis bottom
**[symbol]ù[/symbol]** alt+0249 large right bracket top
**[symbol]ú[/symbol]** alt+0250 large right bracket middle
**[symbol]û[/symbol]** alt+0251 large right bracket bottom
**[symbol]ü[/symbol]** alt+0252 large right brace top
**[symbol]ý[/symbol]** alt+0253 large right brace middle
**[symbol]þ[/symbol]** alt+0254 large right brace bottom

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/5 "2003-11-11T04:18:06Z")

</div>

you know, there’s a reason I don’t use the symbol font - other than the fact that I never comment in math threads. I can’t see most of them for what they are intended to be. I assume pi is meant to be the two bars with the attaching one at the top, or that psi is the curly-y with the bar in the middle, or theta is an O with a bar across it - but I see p, y and q respectively, just a bit bolded and in a slightly different font.

I’m using Mozilla 1.4-4 in Linux, and so I assume this is a simple matter of not having the correct font library installed, but beats me if I know how to go about fixing this. Does anyone here happen to know?

As for the bicycle and champagne glasses, I DO occasionally see things like that on these boards, but I don’t know what the intended symbol was supposed to be. A while ago, everyone had big symbols in their sigs - I image that was something I wasn’t able to see, since I just saw big As and Bs, and I don’t think those letters are sig-worthy on their own!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/6 "2003-11-11T04:20:41Z")

</div>

```auto

symbol keystroke name
a a alpha
b b beta
g g gamma
d d delta
e e epsilon
z z zeta
h h eta
q q theta
i i iota
k k kappa
l l lambda
m m mu
n n nu
x x xi
o o omicron
p p pi
r r rho
V V terminal sigma
s s sigma
t t tau
u u upsilon
f f phi
c c chi
y y psi
w w omega

```

That’s a direct copy-paste of some of the above list in my browser. I _imagine_ you’ll all see what I see - basically just the same letter twice, next to the greek name.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/7 "2003-11-11T04:33:30Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Freiheit \*  
> I searched the FAQs and didn’t see anything about using the symbol font.

[FAQ - technical issues - please read this BEFORE posting a question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1956119#post1956119)

> [@](#):
>
> Q: How do I make mathematical symbols / greek letters?  
> A: Use the custom vBcode tag _symbol_, added by the SDMB staff.  
> [symbol]symbol[/symbol] is replaced with [symbol]symbol[/symbol]  
> (Interesting fact: Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, in 1748, proved this:  
> _e_[sup]i[symbol]p[/symbol][/sup] + 1 = 0)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/8 "2003-11-11T06:15:54Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \*  
> \*\*you know, there’s a reason I don’t use the symbol font …  
> I’m using Mozilla 1.4-4 in Linux, and so I assume this is a simple matter of not having the correct font library installed, but beats me if I know how to go about fixing this. Does anyone here happen to know? \*\*

This [post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=3837418#post3837418) mentions these sites:

[fix for Windows](http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/Wfonts.html) and this [fix for Linux](http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/Xfonts.html) as a fix.

Peace.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/9 "2003-11-11T14:12:40Z")

</div>

Here’s the character map for [Wingdings.](http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/wingdings/wingdings/charmap.html) No cocktail glasses or bicycles in that font, tho.

**Freiheit,** if you want to find out how someone coded a post, click on “quote” below the post.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/10 "2003-11-11T14:17:56Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Freiheit \*  
> So: how do I use math symbols, and stuff like the cocktail glass and bicycle?

Like this? å  
Use the vB Font code combined with the Windows Character Map. Find the character you want in the Character Map. Copy and paste it. Remember what the _fontname_ was. Then surround the copied character with the following:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/11 "2003-11-11T14:20:37Z")

</div>

It just occurred to me that if you don’t have the _Webdings_ font, you might not be able to see the cocktail glass in my post, complete with an olive on a toothpick.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fgarriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@fgarriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fgarriel)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/12 "2003-11-11T14:27:19Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Algernon \*  
> \*\*It just occurred to me that if you don’t have the _Webdings_ font, you might not be able to see the cocktail glass in my post, complete with an olive on a toothpick. \*\*

I must not have the font installed. The toothpick clearly spears a cocktail onion on my screen.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/13 "2003-11-11T21:07:26Z")

</div>

Interesting, **Algernon** … I don’t see a martini in your post, I see a guy riding a Japanese motorcycle. So apparently my browser (Mozilla, on Mac OSX) is rendering that as some iconic font, but not the right one.

Incidentally, I do have symbol font, but I still don’t see things in symbol font properly. Apparently, Mozilla only supports a limited list of fonts with the font tag, regardless of whether the font is actually available.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-font/212298/14 "2003-11-11T21:14:30Z")

</div>

Hmmm. There is an icon that looks like someone riding a Japanese motorcycle in Webdings. I wonder what that would look like to you **Chronos** … a martini glass?

(By the way, it’s definitely a speared olive **fgarriel**. And I deny any confirmation bias. 🙂 )